The largest single cause of death and injury from fire results from fires that occur accidentally. A large percentage of such fires occur in the hours of darkness, thereby greatly increasing the dangers associated with such fires, as a result of reduced visibility, and therefore ability to escape from a dwelling, particularly in the presence of heavy smoke.
In 2002, local authority fire brigades in the United Kingdom attended nearly 1 million fires, of which over 105,000 were building fires, consisting of approximately 65,000 dwelling fires and 40,000 fires in buildings such as commercial premises, schools, etc. The total number of fire deaths was 578, with 443 occurring in dwelling fires. In addition, there were 13,300 non-fatal casualties in dwelling fires. Economic costs are enormous, with direct property losses amounting to 0.2% GDP, and when this is added to consequential losses, costs of emergency services, fire insurance etc., it is estimated that this costs the United Kingdom £6.9 billion a year.